At the January 21, 2025 meeting, City Council will take a first step in undoing a City Charter amendment. A resolution directs the City Administrator to engage in discussion with the Ann Arbor District Library about development of the Library Lane Parking lot. This lot is currently the designated location for a civic commons and urban park called “Center of the City.” The establishment and development of Center of the City was approved by voters and adopted as part of our City Charter in 2018.
DC-2 (25-0126) Resolution to Authorize the City Administrator to Engage the Ann Arbor District Library (AADL) in Discussions Regarding the Potential Development Including Housing on a Portion of the Center of the City Parcel Known as Library Lane Parking Lot
THE LIBRARY
A summary of this week’s resolution includes this explanation, referring to the Ann Arbor District Library (AADL):
AADL has expressed a vision for their current downtown library property located at 343 S. Fifth Avenue, which extends to possibly including the Library Lane Parking Lot.
In November 2024, the AADL hosted a public engagement meeting to discuss a rezoning of the downtown library property. The library did not record this meeting, but my son and I attended and filmed it. The video is available on my YouTube channel at https://youtu.be/nZHO4AUcADM and at https://a2council.com/ann-arbor-downtown-library-rezoning-request-public-meeting-november-19-2024/
The meeting was led by library director, Eli Neiburger, who answered questions. In response to pointed questions about collaboration with and coordination with Center of the City, Neiburger said:
“I would be happy to have the conversation if anything happens on that side by the time we’re starting this project.”
(timestamp 26:52)
From the library director’s perspective, the validity of the City Charter appears to depend on how quickly it is implemented.
When asked about the possibility of a “land swap” related to Center of the City, i.e. locating a new library on top of the reinforced parking garage and re-locating the Center of the City to where the library now sits, Neiburger said this:
“That’s an interesting idea. The library doesn’t typically make plans for other people’s property. We’re not in control of that. And the charter language doesn’t seem to allow that sort of usage. So I think those are two significant issues
…
One of the challenges is that a library full of books is actually heavier than 10 or 15 stories of apartments, and that the structural system that’s already in the ground there may not be able to hold the stacks, but that’s engineering stuff. That was just something that we heard at that point. I don’t have hard data on that. So it’s an interesting idea. We’re open to it. But at this point, we’re focused on this property that we’re in control of and seeking the rezoning of that site.”
(timestamp 21:45)
These remarks are confusing, given the resolution on this week’s Council agenda. Two months ago, the library director publicly stated that City Charter language would not allow its use as a library and that they were not in control of it. He dismissed the idea of a land swap for structural reasons though they “don’t have hard data on that.” His statement that the library was “focused on this property that we’re in control of” appears to have been misleading at best and dishonest at worst.
BACKGROUND
I was elected to City Council in 2018, on the same ballot that included the charter amendment that created Center of the City; it was referred to as “Prop A” during that election season. I did not endorse or support a position on Prop A, but others took strong positions. City Council members endorsed by Mayor Christopher Tayler were aggressively in opposition to it. When Prop A succeeded, the concept of “Center of the City” was added to the City Charter and became law.
Around this time, supporters of (and donors to) the Mayor began a coordinated campaign of misinformation, insisting that Center of the City was about “preserving a parking lot” and that its supporters had rejected any need for support outside of private donations.
From 2018-2020, Mayor Taylor led a minority of Council Members who – when asked to implement Center of the City – would defiantly state “not one penny!” At the time, I was stunned to see how people elected by our democratic systems were so aggressive in rejecting a law that was approved by the same democratic systems. Democracy counts all of the time, not just some of the time.
Ultimately, the question of public funding was moot.
From 2018-2020, a new majority of City Council (not allied with the Mayor) had much bigger concerns: intervention to cleanup the Gelman Plume pollution, public funding for sidewalks, response to COVID, preservation of housing supply through regulation of short-term-rentals, commitments for affordable housing on City property, and public funding for that affordable housing. Our work on affordable housing led to a millage (approved by voters in 2020) and the projects that are currently being planned and built on City-owned land, e.g. Dunbar Tower at Catherine Street.
PRIVATE DONORS / CITY SUPPORT
Since 2018, community boosters have led activities and small improvements on the Center of the City: planting gardens, hosting events, and most recently installing murals. However, these efforts received no funding from the City.
According to MLive, Prop A in 2018 was a “grassroots effort” collecting thousands of signatures across the City. Opposition to Prop A was funded by a “handful of large donors” including Linh Song, a realtors PAC from Lansing, and Core Spaces, a private developer who wanted the parcel.
https://www.mlive.com/news/ann-arbor/2018/10/donations_fuel_campaigns_for_a.html
In 2020, the talking points against City implementation of the Center of the City gained a loud voice: Linh Song, a newly elected Council Member and philanthropist who (together with her husband) gifted $25,000 to support the development of a City skate park in 2011.
From 2020-2024, the philanthropist/Council Member regularly offered the skate park as proof that no City resources should be invested in the development of Center of the City. In public meetings of City Council, Song would insist: the downtown urban park – now part of the City Charter – should receive no City support because it should rely on private donors, like the skate park.
SKATE PARK
Since 2018, no City resources have been used to directly implement the 2018 charter amendment for the Center of the City. City staff have supported meetings of task forces and committees, but reports and recommendations have led nowhere. There has been no official acknowledgement of the Center of the City as part of our City Charter. The City Parks Advisory Commission did not add it to the Parks, Recreation, and Open Space (PROS) plan.
The case of the skate park is very very different.
A Concentrate article (2009) explains how the Ann Arbor skate park that now exists at Veterans Park was actually the third attempt, after two failed efforts:
…if this perfect storm of advocacy was necessary to get Ann Arbor on board, how does this reflect on the city’s notion that it’s a hotbed for innovative urban ideas? In a more perfect skate-friendly world, the city would put its money where its mouth is and invest in the project. Instead, the City Council and Park Advisory Commission (PAC) have made a cautiously modest commitment – providing park planning expertise from city employees and a future site at Veterans Memorial Park.
https://www.secondwavemedia.com/concentrate/features/skateparkannarbor0057.aspx
The skate park benefited from significant City support, in both resources and written commitments. The project was granted a location: City park property on Jackson Road (Veterans Park). This led to a partnership with the Ann Arbor Area Community Foundation. More importantly: the skate park benefitted from written acknowledgement that it existed and the City was involved. In 2008, City Council approved a Memorandum of Intent (MOI). This was key for fundraising. The MOI was proof that the skate park was partnered with the City. General language from that MOI:
“Whereas, The City of Ann Arbor and the Ann Arbor Skatepark Action Committee wish to state their intent regarding how the parties will work together toward completion of the Facility, and to specify a preliminary outline of any and all future agreements between the parties regarding the Facility.”
In 2009, the Ann Arbor News reported:
The skate park group aims to raise $1 million over the next two years, with 10 percent of that in the endowment.
https://www.mlive.com/opinion/ann-arbor/2009/02/editorial_skate_park_backers_s.html
In 2010, the Ann Arbor News reported on their progress, and financial support for the skate park from Washtenaw County:
All told, the skate park will cost between $800,000 and $1 million to build. The skate park committee scored a major coup when the county’s Parks and Recreation Commission dedicated up to $400,000 in matching funds to the project.
Including those matching funds, the committee has raised about $80,000 toward the total.
https://www.annarbor.com/news/ann-arbor-skatepark-unveils-final-design
As described in the article above (“Including those matching funds”): two years after the signing of a MOI with the City and one year after announcing plans to collect $900,000 (allowing for 10% endowment), the skate park committee had collected only $40,000 in private donations. This amounted to 4-5% of the estimated total needed to build the park. That is in addition to the property location gifted by the City. However, the City’s memorandum of intent with the skate park committee eventually led to additional money: hundreds of thousands of dollars in grants from private foundations.
CENTER OF THE CITY
In May 2023, without the benefit of any official recognition or signed memorandum, a committee promoting Center of the City had collected over $70,000 in private donations. Following the example of the skate park, they asked the City for a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU). Like the MOI for the skate park, this MOU would have supported plans for design and future development as well as accelerated the collection of private and public donations.
What happened? In June 2023, City Council voted unanimously to dissolve the City committee tasked with discussing and planning the Center of the City.
The summary of this week’s resolution (January 21, 2025) includes this explanation:
“To date there have been various activations of the Center of the City, but they have been temporary in nature only and no sufficient private or public funding source has been secured to permanently develop and/or program the site.”
The concept of the Center of the City was approved by voters and is now part of the City Charter. However – unlike the skate park – it has received none of the City recognition needed to generate the private or public support that would facilitate its implementation. The resolution this week highlights the failure of elected leaders to uphold the City Charter.
ELECTION DENIAL
This past week, Pam Bondi (former Attorney General of Florida) was the subject of a Senate confirmation hearing. When questioned by Senator Hirono, Bondi refused to acknowledge that the 2020 presidential election was won by President Biden, stating instead that “Biden is president.” From that hearing:
“I can say Donald Trump won the 2024 Election. I may not like it, but I can say it. You cannot say who won the 2020 presidential election. It’s disturbing that you can’t give voice to that fact”
-Senator Mazie Hirono (D, Hawaii)
If confirmed, Pam Bondi will serve as Attorney General of the United States. We have seen nationally: people can find themselves in positions of power, whether or not they respect or uphold our democratic systems.
We have a problem in Ann Arbor: elected leaders who either do not understand or – more remarkably – feel they can ignore the fact that the City Charter defines law in the City of Ann Arbor.
In communications this weekend, Council Member Erica Briggs refers to the City Charter while dismissing the 2018 Charter Amendment as “controversial” and “narrowly approved.”
In 2018, a controversial amendment to the Ann Arbor City Charter (Section 1.4 to Chapter 1) was narrowly approved that required that all public parcels on the downtown block where the Ann Arbor District Library is located remain in public ownership in perpetuity and that they should be developed as an urban central park and civic center commons to be known as the “Center of the City.”
Like Bondi, she is able to name the City Charter (“Section 1.4 to Chapter 1”) but utterly refuses to acknowledge its legitimacy (“controversial” and “narrowly approved”). Brigg’s characterizations are meant to diminish the fact that an election result happened, and that the City Charter is law, approved in 2018 by over 26,000 City voters.
This is a problem.
Coincidentally, just this past week, I made a three minute video to help our community understand how law is established in the City of Ann Arbor, by both City Council and City voters. I created this video for a general audience, but it would appear that our elected leaders need it, too. In short: any changes to the City Charter require a public vote on a City ballot.
WHY THIS MATTERS
The City Charter amendment approved and adopted in 2018 was very specific:
The City-owned public land bounded by Fifth Avenue, and William, Division and Liberty Streets shall be retained in public ownership, in perpetuity, and developed as an urban central park and civic center commons known as the “Center of the City.”
The development of this land has been delayed intentionally, by the people in power who would have been responsible for implementing it.
Thousands of petition signatures and a city-wide public vote is what created “Center of the City.” As part of the City Charter, it became one of the laws elected leaders take an oath to uphold.
Elected representatives on City Council pass ordinances and control City budget. They can make these policy choices. That is our democratic system. However, City Council cannot unilaterally change the City Charter without a public vote.